Newsletter – 3rd edition

‘a Girl & her world’ believes that no matter where she lives or which family she was born into, a girl was created for this process, built for it in all its beauty, strength, wonder and value. 



Why girls?

Glad you asked, it’s a great question! UN Exec Director for women Michelle Bachelet says, “When women are healthy and educated the benefits extend to their children, communities and nations. Poverty and malnutrition decline, living standards improve and economic growth increases”.
I read a blurb recently by the awareness campaign ‘The Girl Effect’…they said,“We did some research. Had we found that the solution to poverty was rubber bands, we would be promoting rubber bands. Instead, we found that it was a girl”.
Click here to see their amazing clip on The Girl Effect and why educating girls is so powerful.
In many parts of the Pacific, education is not valued and especially not for girls. We are working to change this! In Fiji, the facts and figures tell us that literacy is high and most children go to school. We serve the ones that slip through the cracks, don’t stay at school and are set up to perpetuate cycles of poverty, especially in rural areas.
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We value every contribution to a Girl & her world no matter how big or small, or whether it’s money, time, skill, sharing a link to our blogon Facebook or retweeting us on Twitter

Thank you!

Drop us a line, we’d love to hear how what we are doing together resonates with you,

Much love and gratitude,
Jane and the ‘a Girl & her world’ team

Pick a Project

With new girls, comes new income supporting projects for their families.  If you are interested in supporting a family to become sustainable, please click on this link

1. We need 2 x bee boxes at $200 each
Which includes the gear needed to care for and harvest the bees.

2. We need 2x gardening tool kits at $200 eachA family we would like to help with veggie gardening were trying to earn a living using a sweets cart like this pictured to sell sweets at their local school. They live on a fertile piece of land and with your help will be able to plant and harvest veggies. This way they can feed their own family and sell the rest at the market

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Welcome to our third newsletter and what an exciting few months we have experienced.  Nine months into ‘a Girl & her world’, we are super happy to be able to share with you that we are now supporting 12 girls to stay at school in RakiRaki.  This is awesome !

Along with supporting these girls, We are also committed to ensuring their parents have the opportunity to be self sufficient. We have some new projects that we would love your support with. A heartfelt thanks to all our ongoing and new sponsors for your generosity and for sharing our vision to be a part of a brighter and more optimistic future for these girls.  Read on to see what we have been up to.

Franziska in Fiji 

Our first exchange student has recently returned from a 2 week experience in RakiRaki.  Hosted be our wonderful in country co-ordinator, Urmila…she shares a personal insight into her experiences.

Volunteering in Fiji and spending 2 weeks with Urmila’s family and meeting the girls along with their families first hand, has undoubtedly been the time of my life.

I arrived in Fiji excited and a little nervous, as I had never been to Fiji and had no idea what would await me. However, I needn’t have worried because already on my fist day I experienced the friendliness of the people, as I was welcomed into Urmila’s family as her daughter.

Working with the sponsored girls I learnt about their dreams for the future, dreams that for me are easily reached, but which are hindered by the many obstacles that these girls face in their everyday life. The openess of the people surprised me, wherever I went I was welcomed into the house with smiles, hugs and kisses, as they showed their gratitude that a stranger was interested in their story.

Already at the end of my second day I wished that I could just throw my hands around the whole town and fix everyone’s problems. It was heartbreaking to see that girls my age don’t have a clear future before them… while I took my life for granted.

I am thankful for the opportunity to actually see and experience life through the eyes of these girls. Having met and connected with these wonderful people, definitely brings the importance of their support closer to my heart’

Fransiska attends the German International school in Sydney and is committed to being a part of  ‘a Girl & her world ‘ and the journey she has started.

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Girl Ambassadors

If you are interested in becoming an ambassador for ‘a Girl & her world’, we’d love to hear from you.  We already have 3 young talented and passionate girls who are flying the flag in their local school and home communities.  A girl ambassador is someone who understands what we are about, is committed to our cause of supporting the education of girls in Fiji and other parts of the Pacific… and believes they can make a difference.  It’s a simple as working with your school to organise a cake stall, a gold coin mufti day or another fundraiser.  Message us on FB or email us oninfo@agirlandherworld.org if this sounds like you.

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We Are Running for our Girls!

As part of the Sydney Blackmore’s Running Festival on September 16, we have a team of runners [and walkers] who will be donning pink shirts, ‘a Girl & her world’ caps and clocking up the km’s to raise funds.  Some of us are doing the 9 km bridge run, the half marathon and one amazing male machine in training for the 42 km full marathon!  We have people running for our cause that we have not even met yet, which is pretty exciting.  If you are interested in joining us or wish to sponsor us instead  Click here

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Focus on Dreams

While in Fiji recently our volunteers Franziska and Ulrike, held focus groups at some of the schools we work with. Girls were asked to respond to the following statements. “When I dream about my future…I imagine” They were also asked to write down any barriers to achieving their future.

 “ I want to be a doctor but my family is very poor so I have to try and stay at school so I can get a job and support them. Staying in school is hard because I have to do housework and cooking before and after school and we don’t have any electricity so it’s hard to do my homework at night”

“I want to be a teacher and go to a prestigious college! This is difficult as my father is the main breadwinner in our home and he is sick. Both my parents stay at home and we don’t have much money to buy what our family needs. Sometimes when we don’t have anything, I prefer to go to school even without food as I don’t want to be at home”

“I always see myself working in a hospital when I grow up. I dream about my family’s happiness, I want to help them when I am grown”

When we read these we choked up, not just with compassion but with gratitude that we can help mend some of these wings so these little birds can fly!

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Corporate Social Responsibility

We are presenting to the Nth Sydney Rotary sunrise club this September to look at ways we can work together to put ‘a Girl & her world’ on the map in the corporate world.  This is a very exciting opportunity that opens all sorts of doors for both organisations.
If you are part of a business that is committed to social responsibility and what we are about, we’d love the opportunity to come and meet with you.  Email us on info@agirlandherworld.org

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